Geoff Goddard
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Geoffrey Goddard (19 November 1937 – 15 May 2000) was an English songwriter, singer and instrumentalist. Working for
Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...
in the early 1960s, he wrote songs for
Heinz The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six conti ...
, Mike Berry, Gerry Temple,
The Tornados The Tornados (The Tornadoes in North America) were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits ...
, Kenny Hollywood, The Outlaws,
Freddie Starr Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell; 9 January 1943 – 9 May 2019) was an English stand up comedian, impressionist, singer and actor. Starr was the lead singer of Merseybeat rock and roll group the Midniters during the early 1960s, and ...
,
Screaming Lord Sutch Screaming Lord Sutch (10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999), who had his name legally changed from David Edward Sutch, was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party an ...
, The Ramblers and
John Leyton John Dudley Leyton (born 17 February 1936) is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song "Johnny Remember Me" (written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek), which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart ...
. His song for Leyton, "
Johnny Remember Me "Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK Singles Chart #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting – real or imagined – of a young man by his dead ...
", reached number 1 in the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. By the mid-1960s he had fallen out with Meek. Disillusioned with the music industry, he withdrew from it to work in catering.


Biography

Goddard was born in
Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...
, England. He sang in choir in a local church before going on to study the viola and piano at the
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
in London. Following national service, he sought to move into popular music, and met Meek. He initially attempted to establish himself as a
Russ Conway Russ Conway, DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number one ...
/
Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...
styled singer-pianist under the stage-name "Anton Hollywood". Meek promoted him, but he was unable to achieve success. Eventually he released his solo records under his real name. He recorded four singles as solo artist, produced by Meek, on which he sang with his distinctive regional accent: *"Girl Bride" / "For Eternity"
HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...
POP 938 October 1961 *"My Little Girl's Come Home" / "Try Once More" HMV POP 1068 September 1962 *"Saturday Dance" / "Come Back To Me" HMV POP 1160 May 1963 *"Sky Men" / "Walk With Me My Angel" HMV POP 1213 October 1963 The Oxford label CD also featured seven of the above named tracks ("Sky Men" being the exception), plus Goddard's demo of his song, "My Friend Bobby". His best known efforts were as a songwriter. The first project he worked on for Meek was the instrumental "Lone Riders" for
The Flee-Rekkers The Flee-Rekkers – also known as The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers – were a British instrumental rock and roll band in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The group name varied on early singles; they were billed as "The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers" or "The F ...
. He then penned "
Johnny Remember Me "Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK Singles Chart #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting – real or imagined – of a young man by his dead ...
" for John Leyton. It became a number one hit single in the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. Goddard also played keyboards on various of Meek's productions, most notably another chart-topper, The Tornados', "
Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fir ...
", and wrote and performed on the hit single's flip side, "Jungle Fever." Despite his considerable track record as a songwriter, Goddard withdrew from the music industry after falling out with Meek. He brought a breach of copyright case in 1965 against Meek concerning
The Honeycombs The Honeycombs were an English beat group, founded in 1963 in North London, best known for their chart-topping 1964 hit, the million selling "Have I the Right?" The band featured Honey Lantree on drums, one of the few female drummers in bands ...
' hit "
Have I The Right? "Have I the Right?" was the debut single and biggest hit of British band The Honeycombs. It was composed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who had made contact with The Honeycombs, a London-based group, then playing under the name of The Sheratons, ...
", written by
Ken Howard Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in ''1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Whit ...
and
Alan Blaikley Alan Tudor Blaikley (23 March 1940 – 4 July 2022) was an English songwriter and composer, best known for writing a series of international hits in the 1960s and 1970s in collaboration with Ken Howard, including the UK number ones "Have I the ...
. Goddard claimed that it borrowed from his earlier song "Give Me The Chance". Goddard was unwilling to testify personally and lost the case. Subsequently, Goddard returned to his home town and worked for many years in the catering department of the
University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
. In 1985, the royalties and the
platinum disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
from the
Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He ...
/
Bronski Beat Bronski Beat were a British synthpop trio which achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "Smalltown Boy", from their debut album '' The Age of Consent''. "Smalltown Boy" was their only US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 s ...
cover version of "Johnny Remember Me", having sold over 300,000 copies, came as a complete surprise to him. Goddard died from a heart attack in May 2000, at the age of 62. In the 2009 film, '' Telstar: The Joe Meek Story'', Goddard was portrayed by Tom Burke.


Releases as songwriter (RGM productions)

*
The Flee-Rekkers The Flee-Rekkers – also known as The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers – were a British instrumental rock and roll band in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The group name varied on early singles; they were billed as "The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers" or "The F ...
– "Lone Rider" – Pye 7N35006
A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
(June 1961) *
John Leyton John Dudley Leyton (born 17 February 1936) is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song "Johnny Remember Me" (written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek), which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart ...
– "
Johnny Remember Me "Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK Singles Chart #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting – real or imagined – of a young man by his dead ...
" –
Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...
JAR577 A (July 1961) * Mike Berry & The Outlaws – "
Tribute to Buddy Holly "Tribute to Buddy Holly" (also recorded as "A Tribute to Buddy Holly") is a song written by Geoff Goddard, first recorded by Mike Berry and the Outlaws as a single, which was released in September 1961 on His Master's Voice records. His first ...
" – HMV POP 912 A (September 1961) *John Leyton – "Wild Wind" – Top Rank JAR585 A (September 1961) *Gerry Temple – "Seventeen Come Sunday" – HMV POP 939 A (October 1961) *John Leyton – "Voodoo Woman" – HMV CLP1497 Album (November 1961) *John Leyton – "Oh Lover" – HMV CLP1497 LP (November 1961) *John Leyton – "Son This Is She" – HMV POP 956 A (December 1961) *Mike Berry & The Outlaws – "Little Boy Blue" – HMV POP 979
B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
(January 1962) *John Leyton – "Lone Rider" – HMV POP 992 A (March 1962) *John Leyton – "Lonely City" – HMV POP 1014 A (April 1962) *
The Tornados The Tornados (The Tornadoes in North America) were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits ...
– "Jungle Fever" – Decca F11494 B (August 1962) *John Leyton – "Lonely Johnny" – HMV POP 1076 A (October 1962) *Kenny Hollywood – "The Wonderful Story of Love" – Decca F11546 B (December 1962) *Mike Berry & The Outlaws – "Don't You Think It's Time" – HMV POP 1105 A (December 1962) *The Outlaws – "Texan Spiritual" – HMV POP 1124 B (February 1963) *Toby Ventura – "If My Heart Were A Storybook" – Decca F11581 A (February 1963) *Mike Berry & The Outlaws – "My Little Baby" – HMV POP 1142 A (March 1963) *
Freddie Starr Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell; 9 January 1943 – 9 May 2019) was an English stand up comedian, impressionist, singer and actor. Starr was the lead singer of Merseybeat rock and roll group the Midniters during the early 1960s, and ...
& The Midnighters – "Who Told You" – Decca F11663 A (May 1963) *
Heinz The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six conti ...
– "
Just Like Eddie "Just Like Eddie" is a song by recording artist Heinz. The song was his second solo release after leaving the band The Tornados. Background The song was a tribute to American rock 'n' roll pioneer Eddie Cochran. The song was produced and engineere ...
" – Decca F11693 A (July 1963) *John Leyton – "On Lover's Hill" – HMV POP 1204 LP (September 1963) *
Screaming Lord Sutch Screaming Lord Sutch (10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999), who had his name legally changed from David Edward Sutch, was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party an ...
– "Monster in Black Tights" – Decca F11747 B (September 1963) *Pamela Blue – "My Friend Bobby" – Decca F11761 A (October 1963) *Heinz – "Country Boy" – Decca F11768 A (November 1963) *The Ramblers – "Dodge City" – Decca F11775 A (November 1963) *Heinz – "You Were There" – Decca F11831 A (February 1964) *Heinz – "Hush-A-Bye" – Decca LK4599 LP (March 1964) *
Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
– "My Head Goes Round" - EMI Columbia SCX6435 LP ''
Tracks 'n Grooves ''Tracks ‘n Grooves'' is the sixteenth studio album by British singer Cliff Richard, released November 1970 on the EMI Columbia label. It is his thirtieth album overall. The album reached #37 in the UK Album Charts. A year earlier, the open ...
'' (November 1970)


References


External links


Tribute on myspaceFan site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Geoff 1937 births 2000 deaths English songwriters English male singers English pianists English keyboardists People from Reading, Berkshire 20th-century English singers 20th-century British pianists British male pianists 20th-century British male singers British male songwriters